The End Is Only the Beginning
by Akkiarn
Summary: Based of the story line of the game, my own take on minecraft story mode following the adventures of Jesse and her friends, overcoming the fears and dangers of a perilous quest to defeat a new evil.
1. A New Town

**Okay, I'm just going to say a few things now to clarify somethings before you begin to read. I DO NOT own minecraft story mode. This is a fanfiction so I do not claim anything as to be my own, well except all the stuff that is NOT in the game and came from my own imagination etc.**

 **This follows the female character of Jesse. I'm going to change her name to Jessica but have her close friends call her Jesse as a nickname. This shouldn't be uncommon, because I have a friend in real life name Jessica and I call her Jesse for short. You will understand the full reason as my fanfiction goes along.**

 **Also I advise you to think of the characters as humans and not blocky figures, due to content. Also think the world as realistically as well.**

 **Thank you in advance for reading.**

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 **Chapter One: A New town.**

The sound of hooves and what felts like a bump woke her up. A small breeze blew around her ruffling her hair and causing something silky to tickle her hand. Keeping her eyes closed she suppressed a giggle as she shivered with cold. Instinctively she tried to curl up and snuggle within the warmth she could feel behind her.

A low chuckle reverberated against her ear as she snuggled against the solid warmth. "Finally waking up, Jessica?" There was a pat on her head as she opened her eyes. Bright sunlight made her squint and she groaned adjusting to the brightness before the sun seemed to disappear. Rubbing her eyes she looked around at the trees passing by. They were in a dark oak tree forest with wild roses, daisies and tall grass scatted here and there reaching out toward the sunlight that fell through the tree canopy here and there.

The horse nickered and tossed its mane causing the silky hair to tickle her hand again, this time she let out a giggle. Strong hands held the reins in front of her, turning the horse slightly to go around the thick dark oak tree. She looked up above her to see the stubbly five o' clock shadow of a beard and a slightly rugged face of her father. "Daddy!" Jessica said excitedly.

He looked down and smiled his eyes crinkled showing the laugh lines around his emerald green eyes. A leather helmet was covering most of his head, he wore similar leather armor on his chest and legs and even leather boots. "Did you sleep well?" he asked his daughter before looking straight ahead.

Jessica shifted slightly within the saddle and grimaced at the pain that shot to every muscle, kind of wishing she was still asleep. "Yeah…" She answered her dad in a small tone, gritting her teeth trying to get comfortable.

Another low chuckle escaped from her father's mouth. "It's okay we've been traveling for three days now. The Village should be ahead shortly. You can rest and move the aches out of your limbs soon enough."

"Why did we have to leave? I like our old home." She said sadly. "I had friends there..."

"You know why we left, there was barely anything left standing, Hun." There was a crack in father's voice and she instantly regretted what she said. She knew very well what happened to her last home, something she didn't really want to remember. But it didn't change the fact that she didn't like the new change.

Five days beforehand she and her father and mother had lived in a small village on the edge of a small plains that sat beside the ocean. Since the village was small it didn't have fortified defenses. They were helpless when a zombie horde attacked killing most of the villagers including her own mother. Her father saved her just in time, coming up behind a zombie and killing the cruel monster before it could get to her. She could remember the screams of terror as zombies bit into the flesh of their prey. Her father had fought to protect the village along with a few other villagers who had weapons to fight with. But it was all in vain. Morning came and went, bringing the left over zombies to burn in the sunlight. They burst in flames as soon as the sunlight hit them, growling with a sickly groan they burned to death, but not before some of the houses caught of fire because of it. In the end the only things left standing were half burned down houses, her and her father and a few other villagers and their children.

It took two days to treat the wounded, gather the supplies and deal with the dead. A sickly aroma had filled the air and the stench of burning flesh. They had to burn the dead, including her mother. She could still remember how he begged her father not to, that somehow she thought her mother could still be alive, but it was all just wishful thinking. Her mother's body was burned with the rest of the villagers. They couldn't just bury them like normal, in case the bodies were infected and they were turned into zombies as well. Saying goodbye was the hardest thing she felt like she ever had to do, and hoped to never do again.

Her father looked back down to see his daughter staring off blankly into the distance. He could feel the pain that she felt. He could only imagine how hard it was on his eight year old daughter. He pulled her close to his chest protectively while one hand holding the reins he reached down into the saddlebag and took out some mutton, bread and cheese and handed the food to her. "Why don't you eat while I tell you a story? I think it will make you feel better."

Jessica picked at the bread and cheese nibbling it slowly as she shrugged at her father's words. She wasn't feeling all that hungry. She felt sick to her stomach than hungry. They were coming out of the dark oak forest and into a vast plain biome, tall grass everywhere. White and black sheep grazed here and there and small white and brown rabbits hopped around but soon scattered in fright as their horse drew nearer.

"I think you will enjoy it." He said.

"It just a story Father." She answered

"Well actually it a legend." Her father chuckled.

"Legend is still a story." She retorted with a snort.

"Legends are part of truths. And this is a peculiar Legend." Her father was leading the horse up a hill passing what looked to be a ruined cobblestone tower. It base scattered across the ground making it harder for the horse to pick around the rubble. Her father swept his hand toward the ruined tower, Jessica gaze following his hand and looked at the tower. "Nothing built can last forever. And every legend… or in your case what you call a story, will fade with time, no matter how great or small it is. Each passing season, year, decade or century a piece of the details will be lost. To where all that remains are just myths and half-truths. Since you're still young I'll abridge the story just a bit and leave out the gruesome parts."

Jessica sighed but leaned against his back still nibbling the food her father have given her. "The legend of the Order of the Stone. It is said that this happened twenty years ago. Starting with a group of four friends. Gabriel the Warrior. Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer. Magnus the Rogue. And their leader Soren the Architect Builder. It is said that these four friends each had a great talent. Gabriel could make all those combatants who went up against him tremble down to their feet." Jessica sat up a bit with interest, starting to eat her mutton absent mindedly as her father continued. "Ellagaard's ability was amazing circuitry involving redstone, building and creating new machines that started the era of inventions. Magnus could channel his destructive creativity for the benefit of all."

Jessica wrinkled her nose at that. "So Magnus was a griefer? I don't think I'd like that. And I'm not smart enough to know about redstone circuitry. And I don't think I could be as brave as Gabriel, though he sounds pretty cool, daddy. What was Soren's ability?"

Her dad dug into the saddle bag and took out a canteen taking a swig of water before clearing his throat. "Soren ability was the builder of worlds," he looked down to see confusion on his daughter's face. "To put it simply he had the mind to create great building, cities, or things we wouldn't be able to dream of. That was why he was the leader of the Order of the Stone."

"These four friends, thought different in talents found themselves on the quest to a place call The End. A dark and mysterious place filled with Endermen. Creepy tall black monsters with purple glowing eyes. One look in those eyes and they will attack you. Thus at all cost you always look down and never look them directly in their eyes. But their journey to The End was to fight something more powerful, more mysterious than any monster they fought before. This creature was known as the Endar Dragon. Through the perilous fight and with the ability to work together the Order of the Stone was able to defeat the Dragon with Gabriel's mighty diamond sword to finish it off. Their quest was victorious, and their story has now slipped into the pages of legend."

Jessica was astonished at the tale that was told. She shivered with excitement and had eaten all her food without her realizing it. She no longer felt sick, though she was still sad, it seemed like she could move forward now with confidence, even though change was scary it wouldn't be so bad. The ability make friends. _I wonder if I can make friends and have adventures like the Order of the Stone._ She thought with a smile. "I want to be just like Gabriel!" She said in excitement.

Her Father chuckled again. Smiling with relief at being to put her in a better mood. "It always good to look up to Heroes." He made a clicking noise with his tongue and pushed against the side of the horse with the stirrups causing the horse to go in to a small gallop up the hill.

Jessica smile as they began to pick up speed. Her hair moving in the wind as they reach over the rise if the hill. A wall came to view towers and buildings followed. The village was just beyond a small forest of birth and oak trees. Their new home. "Dad…" She said, with a bit of timidly. "Do you think I can make new friends?"

"Of course, there always a new adventure just around the bend." He said. With that they made their way to the town. Their new life beginning.

A whole week had passed since they came to the new town. Her dad had stopped off by a big building when they entered. The town's people had stared at them as soon as they entered. Everywhere it was nothing but stares and quiet. Sometimes she could have heard a few whispers as the people turned to their neighbor to talk to them and point at the new comers.

Her father had come out of the building quick enough, hopping on their horse and setting the reins in to steer the horse in a direction across town. "What did you go in there for Father?" she remembered asking him a few minutes later. He had shown her a piece of paper signed and dated. It was a contract to a piece of land.

"I've bought a place for us to build a new house. And start our life here." He had said.

But all that was a week ago, nothing exciting happened since they came to the new town, Aureum. _What a weird name. Who calls a town Aureum?_ She thought with some boredom. Jessica sighed loudly.

"Bored already?"

She looked behind her to see her father, he was no longer wearing armor but normal clothes. A linen white shirt and black pants, a tool belt strapped to his waist and a duffle sack at his back that looked to be carrying supplies. Simple. Her father always like simple things, nothing fancy or elaborate.

Behind her father she could see the structure of the house. Half built. Some of the town's people were at the roof or the sides hammering in the sideboards, or roof slats. It didn't take long for her father to gather some people in Aureum looking for work, most of the people were doing it just to help out, not expecting pay. At least the people were nice a friendly.

Jessica got to her feet brushing off the dirt from her bottom and shuffled her feet a bit. "It's a little… boring."

She felt a hand pat her head and ruffled her brown hair roughly. "Don't worry, things will be getting better you'll see." He looked behind him at the construction. "The house will soon be finished, and we won't have to live in the tents anymore. And I hear that John and Norm's spouses are bring over lunch as a welcome gift, and I believe some of the other neighbors are coming over too. Maybe they will bring kids your age to meet you."

"Hey Nathan!" One of the men yelled from the construction. "Bring another sideboard so we can get this wall up!" Her father looked back over his shoulder and gave a replied. He smiled down at his daughter before going off to help with the construction.

Jessica sighed and kicked a rock which went sailing into the air landing in the shrubbery and tall grass. She was about to turn around and go to observe the construction when she heard something.

"OW!" Came an exclamatory voice.

"Shhhhh… you'll give away our position." Said another voice.

"But that rock landed on my head!" Whispered the first voice somewhat loudly.

"We came to get to look at the new kid." Whispered the second voice.

"If you guys both don't shut up you will feel my fist." Said a third voice.

Jessica raise her eyebrow in curiosity and looked over at the bushes there was an occasional movement within the foliage where the whispering came from. "Who's there? Show yourself!" she said crossing her arms agitatedly. She didn't like to be spied on.

"Uh oh, we're caught!" whispered a voice. The whispering continued a bit more in audibly before three figures stood up behind the bushes. They were kids that didn't seem to be older than she was. Two girls and one boy. The boy walls tall and round, wearing a green shirt and brown pants. He had black hair and very thick eyebrows that seemed to almost cover his brown eyes. His appearance made him look intimidating. He was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand awkwardly as he looked at the two girls. The two girls were very different, one of them was dark skinned with two pigtails at the side of her face, nearly covered by the green hat and goggles she was wearing. She wore a red shirt with gray short sleeves, with a matching gray pants. The last person had her arms crossed. She wore a blue bandana over her long orange hair, she had brown eyes. She also wore a blue shirt with a black vest and some faded blue jean shorts with black boots.

"Well I've seen enough here, later guys." The blue bandana girl said, walking off toward the center of town. Leaving the green hat girl and the big intimidating boy behind. Jessica didn't know what to say, she felt shy.

The boy looked at her before looking away. "We're sorry. We just wanted to see what you were like." He looked down at his friend nudging her with his elbow as if to get her to say something to.

The girl frowned and glared at the boy after being jabbed by his elbow. She turned to Jessica pointing to herself. "My name is Olivia. And this guy is name Axel, he not as intimidating as he looks. And the girl who just left, her name is Petra. She kind of mysterious. She came up behind us while we were walking in town and insisted that we'd come take a look at the new neighbors."

Jessica looked between Olivia and Axel and she smiled. "My name is Jessica. It's… nice to meet you, you guys didn't really have to hide in the bushes though."

"We… we were just shy and didn't know what the new kid would be like, plus we heard weird rumors from town… so we were also nervous." Axel said looking down before smiling. "But it seems the rumors aren't true."

"What kind of rumors?" Jessica said with a frown.

"Well news travels fast, and well, we know what happened to your old home. So people blew things out of proportions, it nothing to worry about it though, seriously. My parents always told me that don't believe in what you hear until you get to know a person." Olivia said with a smile. She walked over to Jessica and looked into her eyes seriously. "So I have a question..."

"Oh no here we go again…" Axel muttered softly before walking up beside Olivia.

Jessica looked taken aback at the proximity of Olivia. "Wh…What's your question, Olivia?"

Olivia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and then asked seriously. "Would you rather at will have invisibility and teleportation as a skill or ability to read minds and fly?" She smiled at her question, waiting to see what Jessica's reaction would be. Axel just sighed beside her.

Jessica took a step back, after hearing the question and she thought a moment. _What an odd question to ask? Was she being serious or was it a joke? The power to be invisible and teleport. Or the power to read minds and fly. Well… being invisible and teleporting didn't seem as fun to her, I mean if you invisible what is the point of teleporting? Reading minds seem like and invasion of privacy, but the ability to fly seemed like it would be the most fun._

"That's an easy one. Ability to read minds and fly. Flying sounds like the most fun thing to do right now."

"I know right?!" Olivia said enthusiastically. "I mean think about seeing far off places. And then being able to hear people thoughts at will."

"That's cool idea and all but, Olivia are you forgetting that EnderCon is in town?" Axel said impatiently.

Jessica turned to Axel her head tilting to the side. "What's EnderCon?"

"You never heard of it? Are you kidding me?! It like the best convention in the world. It comes every year, and every year it greater than the last. There are a bunch of stalls and booths full of food and prizes and games and there is a building competition. Though Olivia and I don't have an extra person to enter the building competition and even if we did find one, we wouldn't know what to build. You need a group of three or more to enter the competition." Axel said enthusiastically.

"Oh! Would you like to come Jessica?" Olivia asked. "This could give us an opportunity to also show you around town."

Jessica looked over her shoulder to see the construction going along nice a smoothly. She could see her dad helping another guy putting in a window. "I guess… it wouldn't hurt to go along."

"That great!" Axel patted her on the back making her stagger forward.

A few minutes later Jessica, Axel and Olivia were walking through the town. Olivia was pointing out the booths that show great engineering, she seemed to talk excitedly and non-stop about redstone and circuitry. And Axel was pointing at all the trickster like booths that almost looked like it would cause bodily harm or humility. Jessica grimaces at those.

Jessica was having fun with her new found friends, she learned that Olivia and Axel both looked up to the heroes of the Order of the Stone. She was surprised to find out that the legend her father told her was so popular. Apparently by Olivia's standard anyone and everyone knew about the legend of the Order of the Stone. Axel had a mind for destruction and chaos, thus he was a big fan of Magnus. While Olivia said she looked up to Ellegaard and hoped to someday be just like her.

"Hey Jessica, who is your favorite member of the Order of the Stone?" Axel asked her while they came up to the booth of masks of all different monsters.

"I like Gabriel the Warrior!" She said instantly. "It would be so cool, if I could learn how to fight with a sword and be as brave and heroic."

"You got to admit that would be cool." Olivia said. "Just imagine the amount of people who looked up to all them. One of these days I hope to meet one of them. Especially Ellegaard."

"Nah, I think Magnus would be better to meet in person." Axel said.

Jessica shook her head a rolled her eyes. Not for the first time that day it seemed, she noticed that despite Olivia and Axel being well close friends they tended to argue a bit over who was the better hero of the Order of the Stone. At least it was a friendly argument, one that where both sides knew what the other was saying and good easily settle their differences in opinions.

She looked down at the masks and picked up an Ender Dragon mask. Eying it from side to side. _This is so cool. I'm glad I made some new friends._

A high pitch squeal interrupted Jessica's thoughts and she looked around. The noise of the people going to booth to booth and the friendly argument between Olivia and Axel was still going on. Curious she walked away from the booth and looked down the street. There was another squeal as a small piglet came running out of the alley way, and ran down the side street. A moment later four kids ran out of the alleyway.

"Which way did it go!?" A boy said loudly with a little bit of hostility.

"I think it went down this way Aiden," a girl said smugly. "That little runt won't get away."

Another boy laughed, at her comment. "Yeah, Maya, it deserves what it soon will get. It got us in trouble with that farmer and now that piglet going to pay."

"Come on guys, it was only hungry. Can't we just leave it alone?" said a boy with spiky blond hair.

"Shut it, Lukas. It ate the farmer's carrots. And now the Farmer thinks we stole them."

The boy name Lukas shook his head and sighed, following his friends down the side street.

Jessica watched the scene before her taking in the conversation. The group of kids didn't notice her as they turned down to the side street and ran after the piglet. _I can't let them harm a piglet for a stupid reason like that! I mean it just a baby, it didn't know any better!_ She quickly and silently followed them. She followed them for a good half hour at a safe distance. The four kids eventually cornered the piglet in an alleyway with a dead end to it. Squeals of terror rang in Jessica ears.

"Here piggy, piggy, piggy." Said Aiden with a sneer.

The piglet backed away in terror and stood shaking in the corner of the alley terrified. A low chuckle came from the girl Maya and Gills. Lukas rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall.

"Come on you stupid pig, I bet you will be fine bacon." Said Aiden.

Jessica didn't like the thought or idea of harming a piglet just for the fun of it. She felt the inside of her chest tighten and get strangely hot with anger. She stepped out into the entrance of the alley. Lukas noticed her and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey you jerks leave him alone! And go pick on someone your own size!"

Aiden and Maya who had almost reached the small piglet turned around at this. Gills had stopped chuckling and crossed his arms. Lukas kept leaning against the wall as if he didn't care.

"Who are you?" Maya sneered a comment

"Yeah and why are you messing with our business?" Aiden sneered as well.

She froze for a second. _What am I doing!? I don't have a plan!_ "U…Uh…. Well you see…"

"Well what? You better have a good explanation for interrupting us." Said Maya coldly.

"W…Well… um… that.. piglet… he's… HE's MINE!" Jessica blurted out hurriedly.

"Yours?!" Gills said in exclamation and then he started to laugh.

Jessica frown and started to feel anger rise in her chest again and she decided to continue with her bluff. "Yeah, he mine. So you better not hurt him."

"Or else what? If he really is your piglet, then what's his name? Why not call him, if he comes to you we'll think about letting him go. But if you're lying. Well he'll be bacon." Aiden sneered.

Biting her lip she looked at the piglet in the corner. For a moment the piglet and she stared each other in the eyes. Without taking her eyes off him she responded to Aiden. "His… His name is Rueben." With a loud squeal the piglet shot forward and ran underneath Aiden's feet knocking him down on his back. The piglet ran toward Jessica. For a moment she thought the piglet would knock her down just the way it did with Aiden. But instead it jumped and squealed happily into her arms, snuggling against her chest.

She stared in astonishment and smiled widely and laughed, hugging the piglet closely. "Rueben!" She said automatically.

"Why that little lunch meat." Growl Aiden as he got up rubbing his back. He glared at Jessica and Rueben.

Jessica took a step back, holding Rueben close to her protectively and glaring back at Aiden.

"Jessica! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!"

She turned around to see Olivia and Axel coming toward her and she sighed with relief. "Sorry guys for running off like that! I got a little distracted…"

Olivia and Axel looked down to Jessica's arm and looked a bit confused to see the piglet. "Oh how cute! It's adorable!" Olivia stated.

Axel tilted his head to the side. "It looks like a runt to me." Ruben let out a snort at Axel comment.

"Hey you! Don't ignore us, we haven't finished with you or the pig." Aiden yelled.

Jessica turned around and glared down at the group in the alley. "Four against one wasn't fair, I suggest you leave. Or I might give you a reason to."

"Why you little..." Aiden stepped forward.

"Let it be!" Lukas voice interrupted Aiden. "Come on guys, let's go, we'll be missing the rest of EnderCon"

Lukas pushed himself off the wall and headed out toward the alleyway and into the main street following the crowd. Gills immediately followed Lukas, but Maya and Aiden both glared at Jessica and her friends. "This isn't over." They both said before walking off to join Lukas.

"What was that all about?" Olivia asked.

"That was Lukas and his gang of punks. They always think themselves better than everyone else. They are an annoying bunch. And his friends like to bully those around them. And Lukas just lets them and ignore their comments." Axel frown after them.

"It's a long story." Jessica said with a sigh.

"Hey we still got time before it gets dark." Olivia smiled.

"Well you see…" Jessica began.

It took a whole ten minutes to recount her tale after she had left Olivia and Axel at the mask booth. They had stopped by the town's ice cream shop to sit down at an outside table and to eat ice cream. After Jessica retold her tale, both Olivia and Axel were laughing. Jessica had sat down Rueben beside her on the bench and she began to pet him. Rueben instantly snuggling against her hand.

"He attached to you now," Axel stated with a smile.

"Jessica are you really going to keep the pig?" Olivia asked.

"Well, if my dad lets me then yes. I wouldn't mind having a pet."

Olivia raised her eyebrow in response but said nothing.

Jessica licked her vanilla ice cream cone and pondered about the day. _Today started off so boring…_ She looked at her new friends. Olivia and Axel were talking again seemingly to be in another one of their arguments. Smiling to herself she looked down at Rueben. _I've made new friends… and had an adventure. I learned a lot of things about this town. Maybe… just maybe Aureum isn't a bad place after all? Maybe dad was right. Adventures can happen just around the bend._

And with that thought Jessica smiled wider and joined in her new found friend's conversation. Knowing that Axel, Olivia and Rueben would be her best friends for the rest of her life.

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 **OMG! I swear this is the LONGEST EVER CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. This goes for all my stories…. Anyway. I decided have this chapter before the fanfiction take place where the game starts sorry the ending may seem a little rushed. Its… 5am and I've been up all night. It's been one heck of a day and Oh… HAPPY NEW YEAR! I thought it was best to give this part of the story time. To see how Jessica, Olivia, Axel and Rueben become friends. Anyway those who have liked reading this chapter there will be more to come. I'm setting this rated as T for the time being. May change later.**

 **Next Chapter coming soon! Chapter Two: Ten years later.**

 **Please don't forget to leave a review!... omg.. time for sleep x_x**


	2. Ten Years Later

**Okay, here you go guys. From me to you. Despite being so tired from having a root canal and crown done.**

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 **Chapter Two: Ten Years Later**

 _She opened her eyes to a pit black darkness all around her, it was cold and dreary place. Groaning and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. It wasn't total darkness, but enough darkness to make it seem like you were walking in an abyss that went on forever and ever. Above her she could see small twinkling lights in different shades of purple to near black, though they seemed to be far away and out of reach. "Stars? Those don't look like any stars I've seen…"_

 _It took her a moment to realize she was laying on the cold ground and she sat up. All around here there was a purple haze of fog, and the ground a strange form of black rock which looked a lot like obsidian, the same twinkling lights of purple was also scattered across the ground. She stood up and took a few steps forward dusting off her armor. "Armor? When did I get armor?" She said bewildered. Glancing around and seeing nothing. It was, quiet… too quiet for her liking._

 _"Axel?! Olivia?! Reuben!?" She called out her friend's names one by one, taking a few steps forward. Her words echoing around her as if she were in a cavern before they were swallowed whole by the darkness._

 _A metallic sound caused her to take a step back and look down at her feet. A blinding glow of white bluish light made her squint and bring up her hand to shield her eyes from the sudden glare. Squinting against the light she took a closer look as the light began to dim to a soft glow._

 _A sword in its scabbard laid at her feet, the faint light coming off it pulsating like a heartbeat. She could feel her own heartbeat beat. She stared fixated for a moment before she reached down and picked it up. As soon as she touched it the light faded leaving her in darkness once more._

 _Suddenly a loud squeal of terror sounded from the darkness. She gasped as if recognizing the sound. "Reuben?! Is that you buddy?!" The squealing continued and her pounded faster in her chest, not like the calm relaxing pulse that her heart mimic before she touched the pulsating sword. Throwing caution to the wind she started running through the darkness, still gripping the sword in her hand, bumping into things she couldn't quite make out. "Reuben! Reuben! Where are you?!"_

 _The ground began to shake and she stumbled forward falling to the ground and dropping the sword. The air rushed out of her lungs upon impact with the ground. A roar like noise filled the darkness making her blood run cold and the hair on the back of her neck to rise with vise like grip of fear. The squealing grew louder before it was cut off abruptly. "Reuben?!" She gasped through her teeth before crawling forward and getting to her feet clumsily._

 _The ground continued to shake and another roar filled the air. Another noise follow. A noise she couldn't quite make out, let alone identify. Pulling the sword up protectively, her breathing labored she turned around abruptly, looking around frantically at each new noise. Something was coming toward her, apprehension and fear making her break out in a cold sweat._

 _A red light suddenly began to fill the darkness slowly. A figure within the middle of it, casting a long shadow on her. She couldn't quite make out the figure, but it almost seemed familiar to her. There was a snort like sound, making her step forward lowering the scabbard sword. She squinted her eyes desperately trying to make out the figure. "R…Reuben?"_

 _The figure grew in shape before moving forward quickly, letting out a loud roar as it bore down on top of her. She didn't have time to react let alone protect herself. The last thing she saw was white sharp teeth before she was slammed into the chest…_

"AHHHHHHH!" Jessica woke up with a start clutching her chest in pain. A loud squeal and thud filled her ears as she gasped for breath. Cold sweat running down from her forehead to her chin before it dripped down onto her blanket. She stared wide eyed at her patched work blanket, her vision coming in and out of focus. "It... it was just a dream." She said to herself as she slowly calmed down. Falling back down onto her soft fluffy pillows she brought her hand up to rest against her forehead. "More like a nightmare."

Her heart was beating erratically against her chest, the pain slowly fading. She felt the mattress sink near her feet, as he bed suddenly moved, the bedframe creaking slightly. Something cold and wet touched her hand causing her to take her hand away from her head and look at her other hand.

A small pink snout attached to a friendly face greeted her with a snort and grunt, before nudging her cheek. Jessica smiled as she lifted her hand and pet the micro pig behind the ears. "Good morning to you too, Reuben." Reuben let out a happy oink before backing up and jumping around her bed and jumping to the floor.

A knock sounded at her bedroom door and a muffled voice came through. "Jessica, are you okay? I thought I heard a yell." It was her dad checking up on her. He was such a worry wort. "Well, in any case, you should come downstairs." He said after hearing no response.

"Alright. Alright I'm getting up." She groaned as she sat up yet again, feeling much better than she did a few moments ago. She looked around her room. Her room wasn't entirely big nor was it entirely small. The walls were painted a teal gray, not her favorite color, but calming none the less. The teal gray went in contrast to the white molding that when around the wall of her room, and the sky blue, of her curtains on windows and her patch work quilt. Sky blue was her favorite color. She had four doorways in her room. One of them was to come and go from her room to the rest of the house. While the other two lead into a closet and out onto a balcony that over looked the town of Aureum and then finally her bathroom. She didn't have much furnishing in her room, a hope chest at the end of her bed, a mirror, a queen size bed, a dresser and a nightstand, all made from the same type of wood with a cherry finish. Posters of her favorite hero; Gabriel the Warrior covered the walls along with other posters such as past Endercon events.

Sunlight streamed in through her windows brightly as the rays came out from behind a cloud. "How long have I've been asleep?" She mumbled. She looked at her nightstand, which had a lamp and clock on top of it, peering at the time. "Oh. My. GOD! I'm going to be late!" She yelled kicking off the covers and running to her dresser. There was a loud squeal as she tripped over Reuben and slammed into the corner of her dresser. The edge digging painfully in her ribs, she doubled over in pain. "Ow. I'm sorry Reuben." There a snort as Reuben got up and shook himself before walking over to the door, using one of his hoofed feet to scratch at it.

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute, I'm running late! I need to get dressed I can't go to work like this!" She blindly grabbed her work uniform as she took off her pajamas throwing them to the side. Her work uniform was a gray buttoned blouse with a plaid black and gray skirt that went down to just above her knees. A black tie to go around the collar of her blouse. A wooden sword with leather gauntlets and black gloves were the accesories. It wasn't her idea of a uniform, but because of work she had to wear it.

She quickly got dressed, not having the time to shower she grabbed a fist full of her long reddish brown hair and a hair tie off her dresser to put her hair into a messy bun. She stepped in front of the long mirror in the corner adjusting the tie. Her clothes were wrinkled and the color of her gray shirt made her pale white skin look a sickly color and her green eyes sunken as if she had bags under her eyes. Overall she didn't look all that appealing despite that her work uniform was also baggy. Curtesy of her work not having her actual size and she had to go with a bigger size in clothes. The only thing that seemed fitting was the gloves, gauntlets and the sword. The wooden sword went behind her back. It had an iron leathered handle even though it was wooden when placed in the scabbard it was supposed to give the illusion of it being an actual iron sword. In other words it was a prop.

Jessica bit her lip at seeing her reflection, running her hand down her uniform to try to get some of the wrinkles out, but only causing more wrinkles. Sighing with frustration she patted her skirt more time before turning away from the mirror. "Whatever." She said, heading to her door quickly and opened it.

Reuben immediately squeezed between her legs as they both exited her room. He squealed joyfully down the hallway. Being in a hurry, Jessica went down the stairs as fast as she could jumping the last few steps. The air felt hot and smelled good as the stair way lead into the kitchen, her father had cooked breakfast and had set it on the table. Her stomach growled. Reuben was in the corner of the kitchen happily eating his breakfast out of a bowl.

Hearing a thump from her jump down the stairs her father turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "In a hurry?" he asked as he sat down at the table. Her father hadn't changed much in the ten years that they lived in the house, he still was broad shoulder and leaned with muscles, though the only bit of difference was the speckle of gray in his hair and stubble beard. _Gosh, has it been ten years already?_ She thought to herself.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm going to be late!" She replied as she quickly moved past the table ignoring the temptation to sit and eat.

"But don't you want breakfast? It really good." Her father said with a smile as he took a bite out of a sunny side up egg.

Watching her dad take a bite her stomach growled again. She shuffled on her feet anxiously before walking over to the table and grabbing some toast and put it in her mouth. "Phats hust een." She said with her mouthful before turning and rushing down out the door.

"Hey, wait…" Her father called out.

The front door closed cutting off her father's sentence as she broke out into a run toward Aureum's main street. Horse drawn carts went up and down the cobbled stone streets, carrying passengers or supplies to many store fronts. Crowds of people walked along the sidewalks. Running and weaving through the crowds she made her way to the bustling center of town.

The town center was extravagant with tall buildings that lined each side of the road. Hotels, high end shops, cafés, the courthouse and the library; the usual places where most people gathered when they would want to go around the town. Looking both ways and making a quick judgement she ran across the busy street to one of the cafés. A café called: Café Legends. It was a café dedicated to the heroes who defeated the Ender Dragon; Gabriel the Warrior, Magnus the Rogue, Soren the Architect, and Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer.

It had opened some few years back when Jessica had just turned fifteen, becoming instantly a popular hangout for the younger generation of her age group. That was just three years ago. It had gradually expanded from a small café to a larger one as popularity increased its prestige. It had an outdoor seating area that she passed on her way into the café.

The door jingled as she entered, it was quickly drowned out by the beat of music coming from the surround speakers all throughout the café.

 _…"_ _It could be wood or mossy cobblestone! What was the recipe, I just don't know! I'm all alone…Asking! How do I craft this again?" …_

Jessica smiled as she heard one of her favorite songs being played. She hummed along to the music as she made her way to the back of the café where the food would be picked up and sent to the different tables. She grabbed her punch card and punched in her time to start her shift with a minute to spare. She sighed with relief.

"Cutting it a bit close there, eh Jessica?" A familiar voice said behind her. She grinned reluctantly as she turned around to see one of her best friends, Olivia.

"Yeah… I kind of overslept this morning. But I made it here on time!"

"Barely." Olivia stated, as she grabbed a plate that had piece of cake on it. "You better not let Mrs. Porter see you walking in almost late, you're already on her bad list." Olivia wore the same work uniform as Jessica did, but it was more fitting for her as the clothes actually fit her friend and wasn't as baggy.

"I know. I know, let's just keep this between us!" Jessica whispered between her teeth.

"You got it. But tables four and eight need cleared and wiped down. And I think thirteen as well." Olivia stated with a smile before turning to take the plate of cake to a table.

Jessica grabbed a black tubbed and headed to the tables, putting the dishes into it carefully. She wiped down each table, making sure everything was spotless before returning the dirty dishes to the kitchen. An hour and a half passed by as she waited tables, cleared them off, sat new customers down, and worked the register. She hummed to the music playing in the background whenever one of her favorite songs came out.

"Oh, man. That kid at table seven is just made a huge mess, I swear I hate it when people bring birthday parties here." Olivia came up beside Jessica, causing Jessica to quit humming to acknowledge her friend.

"It could be worse. It could be a zombie birthday party." She jokingly said to her friend, as she watched her friend set a black tub of dirty dishes down on the counter.

"Oh, God. Don't even say that, I don't even want to think about the mess. Let alone the terror I would be in, I'd be more worried being their dinner than their waitress." Olivia looked at Jessica with her brown eyes. They both broke out in a smile at their weirdness.

"Here, I'll help you clean it up." Jessica said as she grabbed a spray bottle and a clean towel. She and Olivia both walked together toward table number seven.

"Speaking of zombies," There was a thoughtful and all too knowing look on Olivia's face. "Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-size zombies, or ten zombie-size chickens?"

"Oh…. That's a tough one." Jessica said as she bent over the table spraying it down with a cleaner before wiping it.

"Just to be perfectly clear, though. You wouldn't have any weapons or armor." Olivia said seriously.

Jessica was about to reply to her friend when she heard a very angry and stern voice come from behind her.

"Jessica!"

"Uh, oh." Olivia whispered somewhat horror stricken.

Jessica inwardly groaned at the voice and turned toward it, plastering a smile on her face. "Yes Mrs. Porter?" Mrs. Porter was a middle-age woman who seemed to be in her early fifties. She wore tight expensive clothing and wore a lot of makeup and jewelry. As she walked toward Jessica angrily with a look of deep disgust on her face as she lifted her hand which was holding… _Reuben?!_

Mrs. Porter stopped right in front of Jessica and dangled Reuben in front of her face by the scruff. Reuben gave a pitiful squeal and tried to jiggle around to get out of the firm grip that was holding him captive. "Care to explain why this, _thing,_ is doing within my establishment?"

Jessica was astonished to see Reuben. "I… didn't…"

"I thought I told you the first time that if he came in my establishment again, there would be repercussions." Mrs. Porter continued angrily, shoving Reuben into Jessica's arm making her drop the towel she was holding.

Holding Reuben somewhat protectively, Jessica stood up straight fighting with her composure she looked straight at Mrs. Porter. "I'm sooo, sorry, Mrs. Porter. I didn't realize that he followed me here. I'll make sure it never happens again."

"Make sure that it doesn't." Mrs. Porter was turning away before stopping to look back at Jessica, her eyes flashing as she just realized and remember something important. "Also there a group, coming in soon. They called in for a reservation. You can provide the afternoon entertainment before you end your shift. But first off take care of that _thing._ " She said before leaving.

"Oh man, I can't believe Reuben came here not after last time." Olivia stated as soon as Mrs. Porter went out hearing range.

Jessica sighed and looked down at Reuben, who was looking up at her with big round brown eyes. She couldn't be mad at him even if she wanted to, after all last time he was here it involved much more of a mess, an angry boss and a broom being beaten down at Reuben as if he were a rat as he ran through the café.

"I would choose the zombie-size chickens." She turned as she replied to Olivia's previous question before they were interrupted. "Not because I want to or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be an abomination." She thought of Mrs. Porter in a chicken suit when she said an abomination.

Olivia giggled to herself before grabbing everything and moving away from the table. "Imagine their giant feet."

"Like I said… an abomination. It's about lunch break now, let's take Reuben out back before I get into even more trouble."

It only took a few minutes to finish up what they were doing, Olivia mostly finishing up as Jessica held Reuben tightly to her so he wouldn't go off and get into trouble again. They pushed open the door that lead into the kitchens, dodging the people in there as they made their way to the back door. The backdoor of the kitchen lead to a spacious back alley where they both sat down on a crate.

"Reuben… what were you thinking coming here, you know you're not supposed to." Jessica said as she places Reuben down beside her, petting between his ears. For a micro pig Reuben seemed to cause trouble a lot, but that didn't stop her from loving her pet pig, which was more like a best friend to her than anything else. Reuben let out a snort and an oink as his reply, pinning his ears back; as if he were saying he was sorry.

Olivia looked between Jessica and Reuben and sighed. "So, back at the tree house I put a daylight sensor at the top of the tree, the other day, connecting redstone wires to it and leading them down to the lamps inside. If I did it right, the lamps should automatically turn on whenever it gets dark."

The tree house. Jessica smiled to herself and thought back. The tree house was the first thing Olivia, Axel and herself had built as a team when they were younger, along with the help of Reuben of course. They had decided it on a whim, when they were inspired by the Endercon one year. With much trial and error they manage to make a pretty good sturdy treehouse within the confines of a dark oak tree. The oak tree was tall and sturdy so they weren't worried about it collapsing any time soon. The dark oak tree was also surrounded by other oak trees giving it an ideal places for extensions if they wanted. Which they were doing slowly, little by little at a time. It was their plan to extend it to make it a good living area that way all three of them, including Reuben, could live together as roommates not having to rely on their parents anymore for room and board. And everything was environment friendly so they wouldn't have to worry about paying bills on utilities. One of the perks when you had a friends such as Olivia and Axel who liked to invent things, well mostly Olivia when it came to useful everyday objects.

Jessica couldn't wait to get out on her own, but then a small frown came to her face. _What would dad say though…_ It was a painful thought, she had yet to tell her father that she had plans of moving out, in fact every time she was going to bring it up him. She couldn't do it, she felt guilty. She would be leaving him alone, with nothing but an empty house to himself, and Achilles their old horse. Her heart felt heavy.

"…. Leave Reuben there with nothing while we are at Endercon's building competition." Olivia's words drew her out of depressing thoughts.

"Wait, what?" She said blankly.

"You weren't listening were you?" Olivia sighed. "I said I didn't want to leave Reuben at the tree house with nothing while…"

"Um… he coming with us." She interrupted Olivia.

"Are you serious?" Olivia asked with somewhat disbelieve etched on her face.

Jessica scowled somewhat defensively for Reuben she crossed her arms. "What kind of question is that? Of course he is, he does so every year. It not going to change, unless they banned animals from the convention."

"Okay, I'm not saying that he shouldn't come." Olivia began. Jessica raised her eyebrow as if urging Olivia to continue. "Really, Jessica, I'm not! It's just… don't you think it's weird that you take him with you everywhere you go? I mean look at him..."

They both looked down at Reuben who was snorting and playfully jumping around, following what looked to be a cricket. "He kind of makes us look like amateurs." Olivia finished off. Reuben looked up a squealed as he came back toward them walking up to Jessica and butting his head against her leg.

"He's my wingman. People always want to talk to the girl with the pig." Jessica said jokingly.

Olivia shook her head not buying into the humor. "You mean talk _about_ the girl with the pig," She put strain on the sentence as if getting a point across. "Like. 'Hey it's that girl with the trouble making pig. I wonder...'" Olivia stopped herself as she saw the look on Jessica's face. It was a look of somewhat sadness mixed with loneliness. Olivia knew her best friend well as if reading the pages of a book. She knew perfectly well that since Jessica came to Aureum that she didn't make any friends besides Axel, Reuben and herself. She began to feel bad for what she had said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming."

Jessica looked up at her longtime friend. "What the matter Olivia. Something eating at you. I can see it."

Olivia got up from her crate seat and threw arms up in the air and began to pace around in the alleyway. Reuben decided to take her seat and lay down. "I just down want to give people one more reason to call us 'losers'! I'm getting tired of it! I'm tired of being a laughingstock! I know Reuben is not to blame but a lot of the time he cause trouble for us and it the talk of the whole town."

Jessica got up and walked over to Olivia, placing a hand on her should reassuringly to calm her friend down. "Who cares what other people think or say? The only thing you should notice is those people who know you, and know that you're a better person than what the town's people think."

Olivia stared at Jessica's determined face and couldn't help but give a weak smile. "Okay, I know you right. It… It just wear you down sometimes. Does it ever wear you down?"

"Sometimes, but then I remember what my mother would of said. 'Always smile no matter what you're going through'. My dad quotes her from time to time as well, just so he doesn't see me down."

"Okay, thanks Jessica. I'm starting to feel a bit better."

"No problem, what are friends for?"

They both smiled at each other. Their smiles quickly faded when they heard a strange hissing sound. Jessica heart skipped a beat as the blood in her veins felt as if it ran cold. The hissing sound continued as both she and Olivia looked around the alley. Reuben squealed softly and moved off the crate and moved behind Jessica.

"Do you hear that?" Jessica breathed softly through her teeth, reaching up with her hand to grab the hilt of the wooden sword that the café used as a prop for all their employees.

"Oh, no. Is it a creeper?" Olivia said in a small voice.

Aureum wasn't known for having monsters within its city. On occasion there was a rare spider or two, but other than that the monsters usually stayed outside the town's walls making the town a safe haven for the people who lived within. The wall defense's and watch guards usually took care of the monster that got to close. Jessica would know since her father worked as a town watch guard. A creeper would be a big problem with in the town, especially if it got out into the open into a crowd of people. It would be disastrous.

Jessica took out her sword instinctively placing out her arm and pulling Olivia behind her, pushing her toward the doorway to the café's kitchen. The sword was light in her hand and felt like it was an extension of her arm. Her father had trained her to fight not long after they moved to Aureum, Jessica was pretty sure her father made sure she knew how to defend herself so nothing like what happened to her mother would happen to her. In which she was grateful for, if something were to happen to her and her friends, well she would defend them with her life, or die trying.

They slowly backed away toward the door. Her eyes moving left and right as the hissing noise began to get louder, they were almost at the door when a blur of green shot forward and all a sudden a creeper's face was within inches of her face.

"BOOM!"

Both Olivia and Jessica screamed, closing their eyes in fright and almost toppled over each other. Reuben let out a high pitch squeal.

Male laughter filled the air and Jessica open her eyes to see, Axel taking off a creeper mask. He was doubling over with laughter over his prank. "Oh, man!" He chuckled clutching his side as he continued to laugh. "You guys totally freaked out! That was awe-". Axel didn't get to finish what he was going say when Reuben squeal angrily and rushed and jumped at Axel butting his head into his crotch.

Axel doubled over as his face contorted with pain as he moved his hand to clutch his crotch. Olivia glared at Axel furiously. "Axel! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Axel looked at Reuben as he slowly looked up. "Great, now I'm going to smell like a pig. I thought we were buddies." He said pouting.

"God dammit, Axel! That wasn't funny, I have half a mind to hit you with my sword!" Jessica said furiously now that the fear ebbed away. She put her wooden sword into the leather scabbard on her back.

Axel brushed himself off and crossed his arms to look intimidatingly down at the two small females, who were his friends. Axel was no longer big and round as when Jessica had first met him. Over the years he grew taller than she could ever think a person could grow, he was even taller than her dad. His broad shoulders and muscles were the results of working out on his family's farm. Though his tall bulky build made him clumsy more than anything. He was currently wearing the same type of work uniform she and Olivia was wearing. He also had a pack on his back. "I brought you good times, and now I'm being punished for it?" He said incredulously.

"You scared us have to death!" Jessica glared and turned away bending down to Reuben and giving him a reassuring pet behind his soft piggy ears.

'I'm sorry, but hey thank for not hitting me with your sword." Axel said with a smile.

There was a moment of an awkward silence before Olivia turned to Axel. "Have you been making your fireworks for Endercon, or have you been fooling around?" She asked pointing toward the creeper mask in his hand.

"Hey, I was just in town buying supplies while I was on break. Give me some credit Olivia." Axel said defensively.

"I don't know if I can, we are building a fireworks dispenser after all. It was your idea, I've already smelted the redstone dust I bought the other day and made them into redstone wires; I had plenty to spare that I took the time to set up the daylight sensor we bought a few weeks ago." Olivia said crossing her arms. "Endercon is just three days away, are you sure you going to have the fireworks ready?"

"Yes, Olivia. My shift ends in an hour I'll be going straight home to start working on it. Don't be so nagging." Axel stated as he took his pack of his back and rummaged through it.

Jessica rolled her eyes, it was just like her friends to start an argument. But it was always a friendly rivalry argument, nothing too serious. She'd gotten used to this over the years.

Axel smiled broadly as he took out a purple and black fabric out of his pack. "Come here Reuben." He motioned to the pig. Reuben came over somewhat reluctantly before Axel picked him up and put the fabric on Reuben. It turned out be a costume. An Ender Dragon costume. Reuben looked around, his small eyes peeking out of the mouth of the Ender Dragon mask, he squealed happily and began to run around playfully jumping making the wings flap and look like he was flying.

Olivia scoffed. "You brought Reuben a disguise?"

"Hey, were going to a convention in few days. _Somebody_ has to wear a costume. It took me a few hour to make it."

Jessica laughed at seeing Reuben. "As long as Reuben is happy, I'm happy. And besides nothing more dangerous than taking something off a pig after you put it on him."

Olivia turned to Jessica and pointed at Reuben who was still playing around. "See… _Now_ he's your wingman." She said with a smile bringing up the joke Jessica said earlier.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Shut up." She said jokingly punching Olivia's upperarm.

Axel looked up and down the alleyway looking to see if there was anybody else before he leaned forward to his friends "I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition. But you guys have to promise not to say anything."

Olivia raised her eyebrow tilting her to the side and crossing her arms. She tapped her foot still somewhat annoyed with Axel, but intrigued with what he had to say. "Okay."

Jessica was intrigued as well and she strained to hear what Axel had to say. Axel leaned backed and rubbed his jaw in thought for a moment, as if he was trying to remember something. He was dragging out making them feel impatient.

"The Endercon is in two parts, each part more exciting than the last." He said with a snap of his fingers as if he just remembered.

"JUST SPIT IT OUT!" Both Jessica and Olivia yelled with some impatience. Reuben snorted and bumped his head against Axel's shin.

Axel laughed. "Okay. Okay… Part one. The special at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking self!" He said excitedly.

Jessica stared wide eyes at Axel her heart began to beat fast. "Woah! _NO WAY!_ What is part two?!"

"Part two." Axel began as if bragging. "According to my sources. The winner of this year's Endercon building competition is going to meet him!"

If her heart was beating excitedly before it wouldn't compared to how fast her heart was beating at Axel's words. _I have the possibility of meeting Gabriel?! Well that is if we win._ "Meeting Gabriel…" Jessica began somewhat shocked. "Meeting him would be a dream come true and an honor."

Olivia gestured with her arms excitedly. "Totally! He's awesome. It'd be amazing to see him!"

Reuben gave out deep squeal as he jumped around; he was pretending to roar like a dragon. Axel chuckled at Reuben's playful mood. "Reuben better be careful in that costume. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't End well. Get it End well?"

Olivia and Jessica sighed and shook their heads at Axel's bad pun. "So…" Olivia smiled mischievously as she pointed beyond Axel to the building across the Alley, posters were all up and down the wall of the building. "Does this sources of your make posters for a living?" She teased.

Axel blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… my source doesn't exist. You guys are my only friends."

Jessica shook her head again. "Come on guys, let's focus here. The competition is three days away. We should focus on winning it. This chance to meet Gabriel we can't let this go without a fight!" She said with determination.

Olivia sat back down on the crate she was sitting on before looking somewhat down. The humor and smile fading from her face. "But. We never win. And this year we've got Reuben with us, again." She pointed toward Reuben. " _Remember_ the last time he was with us? And the time before that? We have no chance at winning."

"Have some faith Olivia, anything can happen!" Jessica put in.

"Then why have we lost nine of these in a row?!"

Jessica thought back to the following years of Endercon, for the last nine years all four of them had entered the Endercon building competition. Each year turning out to be a disaster, when one thing or another ended up not working correctly. Most of them was Reuben's doing as he got into something, making their plans fall into total ruin. Last year they had tried to build a TNT canon when Reuben decided to move forward and brushed up against a button that prematurely set off their build. Olivia, Axel and herself has manage to dodge out of the way of the explosion. But Reuben ended up flying into the air and landing into the next building group's area spooking their horses and causing a stampede. Jessica shuddered at the memory. She refused to even think about the other past years.

"Olivia…You can't." She began to say shaking her head. "You can't just look at the past years as a whole. The odds of winning are refreshed each year. We have the same chance to win as we did last year."

"Yeah… which is a zero." Olivia stated optimistically.

Jessica hated it when Olivia decided to be all depressed and self-pity herself. It was kind of depressing for everyone. She refused to give up though. She looked around and stared at the posters along the wall. Her eyes caught on to a poster of a statue, then and idea struck in her mind. "Wait a minute!" She turned to Olivia and Axel excitedly. "We're thinking about this all wrong!"

Axel and Olivia looked at her with confusion on their faces. Jessica ignored their questionable faces as she continued. "The point of the building competition isn't just to build something, like we thought and have done in the past. You have to do something a get noticed by the judges."

"Okay… how do we do that though?" Olivia asked.

"We don't just build something functional. We build something fun." Jessica said enthusiastically. "After we build the fireworks machine like we planned—the we can build something around and on top of it to make it look cool."

Axel looked at the posters that Jessica was looking at and caught on to her idea. "If we want a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary. So I say we should build a creeper."

Olivia who was listening intently looked up at Axel. "A creeper? Why not an enderman? Wouldn't that be better? I'm more scared of endermen than creepers."

Axel tilted his head to the side in thought. "They both have their moments. And both are pretty scary."

Olivia nodded in agreement. For once they were agreeing on something even though it was small. "Then again…" She said reluctantly. "You did scare the crap out of us with that creeper mask."

A creeper built around the fireworks machine did sound like a good idea to Jessica. "Alright let's go with building a creeper. The fireworks will make it look like its exploding."

Olivia who was perking up slowly and getting out her temporary depression was actually finally becoming enthusiastic about the competition. "I think this is the first time we decided on building something before we get to the competition. What are we going to make the creeper out of?"

"Well Axel parents own a farm. I wondering if we could shear the sheep and use their wool as a base. We only got three days so, there won't be enough time to make anything else. We can use dye I have at home to color the wool, and we can make support beams with poles and sticks. And stone. That is if it's alright with Axel's parents." Jessica said in thought.

"I'm pretty sure they won't mind." Axel said bluntly.

They smiled at each other their plan coming into focus as things fell into place. Three days until the Endercon. Three days to get everything ready. In three days they had the possibility to win and meet Gabriel. Things finally started to look up for the three of them.

"Come on guys, it time to get back to work." Olivia stated breaking the moment and causing Jessica to groan.

* * *

 ***takes a deep breath* Time for a long author's note. This chapter took longer due to my pain medicine…**

 **Hey guys. I would like to thank you in advance for reading my story and making it through chapter two. Have any questions feel free to ask. Or better yet leave a review! Oh and if you haven't guessed, I reserve the right to make any changes to fit my story. SO just to clarify on things:**

 **Jesse in the game is name Jessica in my story.**

 **Jessica is now eighteen years old. Making Olivia and Axel around the same age. Axel at least nineteen. Olivia eighteen.**

 **Reuben is a micro pig, so he the size of a small terroir dog. He's a milk pink color with a black patch on his back and his right ear is also black in color while his other ear is the same milk pink color. He a micro pig because in Minecraft Story Mode it looked like he was a smaller pig than normal. Plus I wanted to make him unique.**

 **You will also notice that, since I'm trying to make the story realistic as possible, there will be a few changes in the Minecraft universe. For example redstone wires instead of using redstone dust, there is redstone dust but I figured it would be easier and less messy to melt the dust and make wires out of the liquid. Like imagine all that dust around like sand that could be blown around by the wind or tread on and then all of a sudden it all over the place, thus again the wire idea and anything else explained in the story.**

 **Hopefully this clarifies a few things and questions.**

 **Oh and the song in this chapter was how do I craft this again. It a Minecraft parody song that can be found on youtube, I thought it was funny...**

 **TwdgFangirl34 – I would like to thank you for the nice review on chapter one. I was worried that people wouldn't like the ideas I had for it. Yeah I was surprised myself that it was 5,000 words long. I think I've made a longer chapter before, but chapter one of this story felt like it took forever! Though it would have been longer if my sleepy brain didn't like say; "Hey Akkiarn, it's time for bed… sleep... SLEEEEEEEEEP!" So it was rushed in the end. I might go back at a later date to tweak it. And I hope that I can make the rest of the chapters throughout my intake of Minecraft Story Mode just as long, but I hope that won't make it boring.**

 **HighTEC (Guest) Thank you for the review I'm glad you like the chapter. And I do plan on writing more.**

 **Tootsie-Loo! Haha. Indeed very much like Annie finding Sandy. I love that movie it one of my favorites. But moving on, I've updated so don't worry. And I plan on keeping it updated.**

 **Kingdom Hearts Slayer Thank you for the review!**

 **Chapter Three: Coming soon. …**

 **But in the meantime… time for some pain killers and sleep. Getting a root canal and crown wasn't fun. Just be glad to know I made this chapter through pain and tears.**


	3. There No Such Thing As Bad Luck

**Look. I know I have not updated in a LONG LONG LONG TIME. But when is started this story, I didn't expect to get so many reviews or follows. I expected not to get much feedback. And i had every intention to continue this story. I actually had this chapter half written for months. But everything lead to another. i lost of a job and then i was at my aunts and then. and then i had to find work again etc. And now i'm working again and find myself with lots of time on my hands. and the fact that a recent breakup with an ex left me with... lot and lots of free time So let me give you, this short chapter. And i'll try to get a chapter four out sooner than how long it took to write this one**

Chapter Three: No Such Thing as Bad Luck.

Jessica shook her head as she let Axel and Olivia walk on ahead of her into the café. She bent down and looked at Reuben sternly. "You're going to have to stay here boy."

Reuben made a snort and oink that sounded like a dog whimper but in a pig form. He obviously didn't want to be alone.

"I know boy, but really Mrs. Porter would fire me if you came inside again. And I really need this job." Jessica looked down sadly at Reuben.

Ruben hung his head and gave a piggy eyed look at Jessica as if he was saying; 'Sorry Jesse I didn't mean to do something bad."

Jessica smiled and reached out her hand and rubbed Rueben's ears. "It's okay boy. I'm not upset with you. But really stay here and behave okay? I'll get you after work."

An oink and a snort was all she got in a reply from Rueben and she stood up and patted his head one more time before returning into the café through the kitchen, passing Axel as he was washing the dishes. Axel nodded at Jessica as she walked passed and gave a grin before scrubbing away at the greasy pots and dirty plates, his smile turning into a frown of concentration. It almost looked like he would break the plate he was holding.

Jessica shook her head and suppressed a giggle, she knew that one of those plates by the days end would be broken. After all it wasn't in Axel to be delicate about anything. Sure enough just as she went through the door she heard Axel's mutter curse above the sound of a broken plate.

As soon as Jessica passed the doorway she took notice of the large center area of the café and she sighed inwardly. She knew what Mrs. Porter wanted by the way of afternoon entertainment. It wasn't that it was anything really bad really. The café was known for honoring heroes of legends. And thus what more honor than to put on your sword skills to the challenge?

That was what the center of the café was for. The café center, even though currently imbedded into the ground, was actually a decent size arena that raised up from the ground. The latest redstone technology built in to raise up the platform by two blocked standards in height. Or roughly six feet in height. Once the platform is raised a glass like dome will form from the ceiling and move it way down to pin the two combatants within the confined area of a perfect sixty feet by sixty feet square. More than enough room to maneuver around.

The other parts of this technology was expensive to say the least, but Jessica's boss, Mrs. Porter spared no expense when it came to drawing in people. The final technology was that before you entered the arena you are scanned head to toe by a health gauge. A device that used in the yearly survival games. It puts a shielded layer over the combatants, and measure your stamina and how much damage you could take before you become "dead".

Jessica heard a lot about the gruesome tales her father told about the old ways of the survival games where people once actually fought to the death. But now as times had evolved once you lose your 'health' you are transmitted to the safe, wait zone as a defeated combatant. Often worse case scenarios you get some bumps and bruises, maybe even a broken bone depending if the gauge meter was defective. And thus is why everyone's work uniform came with a wooden sword.

"Okay, if I have to clean up another sloppy birthday party I'm gonna go crazy!" Olivia's voice came from behind Jessica, causing her to turn and look at her friend.

Jessica's eyes widened at Olivia's appearance. She had to bring up her hand to hide the grin upon her face. Olivia gave her a glare. "Don't even think about laughing…"

"I'm not." Jessica said with the straightest face she could muster. "Frosting suits you."

"The kids over at table twelve decided it was time for a food fight…" Olivia muttered.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "So you were in between the crossfire of Magnus green icing and Ellegaard candles?"

"And a Gabriel defeating the ender dragon sugar statue yes." Olivia flicked an ender dragon head out of her hair and one of its wings off her shoulder.

Grimacing slightly Jessica looked around any second Mrs. Porter could come around the corner and yell. "You better get to the restroom and clean yourself up. You don't want Mrs. Porter seeing you like that."  
"Alright. Hey it is about time for today's entertainment, sucks that you have to be the one to be in it today." Olivia walked toward the restrooms.

Standing there for a few seconds longer rubbing the back of her head. Jessica's fingers touched the wooden sword on her back. There was more to the sword than just part of a uniform for work. This was what the employees used when you went into the café's arena.

The arena was in the middle of the café, hidden at the moment but it was there. Tables went around in a large square area, this is what Mrs. Porter would call entertainment. Essentially it was a dueling ring, where customers could step in and fight that day's contender. Customers were pouring into the café now, all chatting animatedly about the upcoming duel. Jessica groaned when she saw her opponent of the day.

"What's the matter Jesse?" Olivia was back now frosting free, she glanced toward the arena which was now growing up from the ground creating a center platform. "Oh no, are you serious? Well you're either lucky or very fortunate." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Shut it." Jessica cheeks began to burn and she bit her lower lip slightly. Her opponent was Lukas, leader of the Ocelots. A pain in the ass group, that caused nothing but trouble to them over the years but everyone liked them none the less. But for Jessica, she had a crush on Lukas since she was a little girl, and so far he never took notice of her. She stared at him taking in his features, moving her from his hair to his eyes, his smile when he talked to his friends. He had a small bit of stubble on his face, obviously he didn't shave today which made him look a bit more roguishly handsome in Jessica's opinion. Her eyes moved down further to his chest and well-muscled arms, which despite the jacket he was wearing he was well built.

"Ow!" She yelped when she felt Olivia jab her with her elbow. "What was that for?"

"I had to get your attention you weren't answering me? What were you thinking about?" Olivia asked.

Jessica glanced to the side at Lukas. "Uh, it's nothing just what I should make for dinner." She let the small lie slip her mouth. She could never tell Olivia or Axel about how she felt toward Lukas. That she was willing to take to her grave. She grabbed her wooden sword and moved to the center of the café. Her heart hammered. The Participating opponents walked up and Jessica moved her foot to the side and hit a pressure plate. The ground began to move with a hidden redstone mechanisms opening up as a platform raised. A dome like energy surrounded the arena. This was the special part of the dome, the energy around it took in both opponents vitals. And keeps it to the point where no one gets killed, mostly just knocked out.

Jessica's eyes glanced over to Lukas who was putting on his red leather armor and choosing a wooden sword. She shook her head, come on focus Jessica! She dawned her armor, and just as she put on her helmet. Mrs Porter's voice hit the café's speakers cutting off the music.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Draw your eyes to the center ring, we have a special presentation just for you! You've seen him here a few times, a café regular, who knows how a thing or two. In this corner I give you the leader of the Ocelots! Lukas!" There was some cheering from the crowd that gathered. As well as whistles and even louder cheering from where the other Ocelots sat.  
"And in this corner, a mere contender stepping into the ring. You've seen her before. Losing night after night. But I guess there always a chance for something different to happen. I give you Jessica!"

There was a few claps as people acknowledged her and then lots of booing from the other Ocelots. Jessica grimaced and sighed. She was never good with entertaining the crowd, it was more like stage fright. Her father taught her how to use the sword, but she wasn't one to draw attention to herself.

"Haha you can do it Lukas, beat the Loser!" Aiden's voice taunted.

Jessica's eyes twitched, she hated Aiden the most out of the Ocelot gang. The annoyance of how he treated everyone around him like they were beneath him really could get on one's nerves.

"And now let the match BEGIN!"

Both Lukas and Jessica stepped forward. Swords in hand. They looked each other over assessing each other. Jessica eyes moved over Lukas again, but this time not ogling him like before, she was sizing him up and looking for his week points. Letting the sword become like an extension of her arm. She let him make the first move.

Lukas did a half step to his right faking out and moving a hard left swinging his sword in a sweep motion. Jessica dodged by rolling to the side and making a counter attack by flicking her wrist with her sword and thrusting it toward Lukas.  
He moved backwards and blocked her attempted counter attack, smiling. He let out a chuckle as if her attempts were futile. His chuckle almost distracted her but only made her angry at it effect. She lunged again.

Aiden tapped his thumbs on the table before him watching the battle, it been going on for a few minutes. And he didn't like the potential outcome. Which made him irritable. There was no way he would let a loser like that get one over the leader of the Ocelots.

Maya and Gill were cheering on Lukas and boing at Jessica and throwing taunts at her to try and distract her. Aiden glanced around the café everyone else was focused on the battle before them wondering who would win, everything seemed pretty much even. He noticed something out the window and he grinned, nudging to Maya and Gill and began to whisper to them.

Jessica blocked a hard upward blow for Lukas' sword and she gritted her teeth holding her stance. This battle was going on for a long time. Usually it would be over now with her forcing herself to lose, like Mrs. Porter always wanted her to do. But something about battling Lukas was captivating, He would smile and his eyes sparkled with determination. To him this was a game and there was no really life or death situation. She didn't want this to end anytime so. She brought her sword up to block another hard blow, but a loud squeal distracted her causing to move her head. The force behind the blow knocked her back hitting part of her sword and onto her shoulder. She gritted her teeth. That would leave a bruise, despite the armor. There was a crack and more squealing.

Lukas stood over Jessica panting. She looked around the café somewhat dazed. Her eyes then landed on a pink blur running and jumping around table and knocking everyone's meals into their laps. "Oh my Notch! Ruben!" She stood up and ran out of the arena.

Lukas looked bewildered and then he glared at Gills, Maya and Aiden who were laughing hysterically in the corner watching as the drama unfolded before them. He rubbed his head as he watched Jessica and her friends as well as Mrs. Porter chase Reuben around the café. Though Mrs. Porter was holding a broom high in the air when she ran. In a way it was funny, but he felt bad all the same

 **If you liked this chapter, please leave a review.**


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